The transition to college can be difficult for any young adult—especially when they’re visiting 7,000 miles from home.
Courtesy of Yami
Such was the case with Alex Zhou, founder and CEO of Asian online marketplace Yami, who came to the US from China in 2007 to study at Kansas State University in the college town of Manhattan, Kansas.
“I didn’t have access to Asian food, restaurants or grocery stores for almost five years,” says Zhou entrepreneur. “It was really inconvenient and I noticed that many of my classmates who were from Asian countries had the same problem.”
After graduation, Zhou moved to LA, which has a large Asian population. Surrounded by a plethora of Asian restaurants and brick-and-mortar stores like H Mart, the lightbulb went out: Maybe I can start an e-commerce business to carry Asian products and brandsZhou thought.
E-commerce was certainly not a new concept back then. In China, there was Alibaba; in the US, eBay and Amazon were long-established players. And as more and more Asian students and immigrants came to the US, Zhou realized there was a real market for his idea.
Zhou founded Yami, formerly known as Yamibuy, in 2013. Today, the e-commerce retailer has two million customers (one in 10 Asian Americans uses the platform, Yami found by examining customer and census data) and more than 300,000 SKUs Asian snacks and foods, beauty and health products, home appliances, books and more.
Though the majority of US Asians live in California, New York, Texas, New Jersey, and Washington, Yami is not experiencing its fastest growth in those states, but rather in college towns like Raleigh, North Carolina, and Tempe, Arizona – a testament to Zhou’s more original Mission.
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“In the beginning, I was just trying to serve all Chinese students studying in the United States.”
Back in 2013, as a recent college graduate, Zhou had no idea how to run a business. So he started from scratch: he researched everything from products and costs to website development.
part of the process? Strolling through the very Asian markets he had noticed upon arrival to study their customers and note brand names, some of which would eventually become Zhou’s own suppliers.
Zhou’s strategy was a success, but as Yami grew, so did some of the challenges. In the early days, when Zhou couldn’t afford to hire employees, he worked from 6 a.m. to midnight, driving around to pick up inventory that no one would ship to his fledgling company.
Then, around 2015, when Yami was really picking up steam and could Zhou had to figure out how to convince Google and Amazon employees to join his startup.
During all of this, the founder had to consider how to sustain Yami’s growth. “In the beginning, I just tried to help all the Chinese students studying in the United States because I understood their pain point,” he says. “I knew what they wanted.”
Word of mouth was key from the start. The right product can generate many organic takeoffs, says Zhou, using social media as an example.
“Let’s say someone bought instant noodles from Japan,” Zhou explains. “Then he or she posts on social media, ‘Oh my god, look at what I bought.’ Then her boyfriend will ask [where they bought it from]. This is our classic channel for customer acquisition – until today.”
See also: The Business of Harnessing the Power of Social Media
“The strategy is changing a bit [when] Customers don’t know the product.”
In recent years, Yami has expanded beyond its Asian customer base, and that requires a change in tactics, Zhou notes.
“When we enter this space, the strategy changes a bit because these customers are unfamiliar with the product,” says Zhou, “but they are influenced by emerging Asian pop and food culture.”
In US coastal cities in particular, it’s not uncommon for people to incorporate Asian cuisine into their weekly meal rotations, Zhou explains, and part of Yami’s success with his non-Asian client base stems from his ability to connect with those potential buyers.
To this end, Yami works with Asian chefs and restaurants to attract Asian food lovers. The company also partners with Asian content platforms to attract people who are fans of Asian pop culture like K-pop, K-drama, anime and more.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Yami
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“Every single customer wants a first-class experience. Improving the shopping experience of our customers is important to us every day.”
Another major growth milestone? Yami is opening its East Coast warehouse, which will enable shipping times to rival Amazon Prime in the US — averaging just 2.6 days, Zhou says.
“Retail is retail,” explains Zhou. “Every single customer wants a first-class experience. Improving the shopping experience of our customers is what we do every day [opened] first our west coast warehouse and now our east coast warehouse – so we can get packages to our customers faster.”
Yami also has its own fleet of vehicles; In LA, orders placed in the morning can be delivered the same day and orders placed in the afternoon can be delivered the next day.
Dealing with so many cross-border products (95% are imported from Asia), Yami has to deal with a sometimes complicated supply chain. That’s why it’s made data and AI a cornerstone of its strategy — using technology to forecast demand and personalize marketing to customers.
Related topics: Do you offer your customers personalized experiences?
“You never solve the problem just by thinking about it.”
For other founders hoping to break into e-commerce as successfully as Yami did, Zhou suggests keeping two things in mind. First you need to focus on your niche.
“It is too late [to start the next Amazon]’ says Zhou. “Amazon already dominates the entire e-commerce space. But new e-commerce companies are popping up every day. If you look at all this [new] Companies always have something special. Take Yami for example – Amazon is big, but it doesn’t do well with Asian supply chains. It doesn’t do well with Asian products.”
But perhaps the most important piece of advice according to Zhou? Just take the first step.
“Once in a while [potential founders] think too much – but they never put their thoughts into action,” explains Zhou. “You never solve the problem just by thinking about it.”
